FIFA’s World Cup ‘hydration breaks’ has surrendered our game to American broadcasters | OneFootball

Every match at the 2026 World Cup will have three-minute hydration breaks in each half, in a move definitely not catering for American broadcasters wanting mid-game adverts.

FIFA said the measure is being introduced to “prioritise player welfare” and will happen in matches regardless of the weather conditions ‘to ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches’.

The referee will stop the game 22 minutes into each half to allow players to rehydrate – and advertisers to fill their boots. Will somebody please think of the BBC?

Now, several venues at next summer’s World Cup will be scorching hot. The kind of heat that makes you break out into a sweat just thinking about it.

The recent Pitches in Peril report – compiled by pressure groups Football for the Future and Common Goal – found that 10 of the 16 venues for the World Cup are at “very high risk of experiencing extreme heat stress conditions.”

But that hasn’t stopped FIFA from chasing the American dollar, expanding the tournament to a bloated 48 teams and spreading the 16 venues across the size of a continent.

It hasn’t stopped FIFA from awarding the next World Cup to Spain, where summer temperatures in Seville pass 40 degrees, or stopped talk of returning to the States in 2038.

Player welfare isn’t their greatest concern and hasn’t been for years, as new and longer competitions are stuffed into the calendar.

It’s worth noting that American organisers tried the ruse of breaking games into quarters back in 1994, but FIFA said no.

We shudder to think that Joao Havelange somehow emerges from history as a figure of integrity.

FIFA said the hydration breaks will be a “streamlined and simplified version” of similar ones used at previous tournaments, including the Club World Cup.

Cooling breaks were previously mandatory in each half when the temperature exceeded 32 °C. Heat is one of the factors that has led to the World Cup having 13 different kick-off times.

“For every game, no matter where the games are played, no matter if there’s a roof, [or] temperature-wise, there will be a three-minute hydration break,” said chief tournament officer Manolo Zubiria.

“It will be three minutes from whistle to whistle in both halves.

“Obviously, if there’s an injury [stoppage] at the moment of the 20th or 21st minute and it’s ongoing, this will be addressed on the spot with the referee.”

It’s the latest development that fundamentally misunderstands both the sport and its appeal.

For over a century, football has been a game of two 45-minute halves. This allows the game to flow and avoids the unnecessary stoppages that plague sports like Rugby Union or Basketball.

This development takes the game further away from its grassroots, further away from the idea that football is the simplest sport to play and understand.

Choosing America as World Cup hosts was always going to open the door to nonsense, such as Friday’s spchinter-tightening draw, dynamic pricing and a half-time show at the final.

But, in many ways, it all reeks of insecurity from FIFA.

Unsatisfied that football is arguably the most popular pastime in human history, the governing body bends over backwards to adapt the game for American audiences.

We’ll probably all forget about the background noise once the tournament starts in June. But our game has never been more gone.